The Caring Bridge Journals - Journal 2

The Caring Bridge Journals

JOURNAL 2
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Preface by Laura Pizzo

Diane Boreland is Ready for Hip #2

Written July 27, 2013 2:04pm by Laura Pizzo

Greetings family and friends. Let me be the first to post a new journal entry to bring clarity to where this site left off the last time you checked in. Diane is going ahead with her second hip replacement surgery. She will be Scottsdale Healthcare Thompson Peak Hospital. Scottsdale Healthcare Thompson Peak is a 64-bed community medical-surgical hospital. The Valley’s first hospital north of the Loop 101 freeway, it is located near the northeast corner of Scottsdale Road and Thompson Peak Parkway.

http://www.shc.org/Our+Hospitals/Thompson+Peak+Hospital/Scottsdale+Healthcare+Thompson+Peak+Hospital

Her surgeon is Dr. Ted Firestone http://jrcscottsdale.com/

Surgery is Thursday, August 1st at 10:30am and Diane will probably be there until Saturday mid-day.

I will post updates as they become available.
Laura


Surgery Today

Written August 1, 2013 9:53am by Laura Pizzo

Brave and determined today you move forward with your surgery.

Bright and hopeful you take your future in your hands.

Know that we all love and support you and will be sending prayers and positive thoughts your way today - and always.

Laura


Diane is in the recovery room!

Written August 1, 2013 4:34pm by Laura Pizzo

Deb called to let me know that Diane's doctor said that things could not have gone better, and now Diane has a matched set!
I just talked to our Dad and he is relieved and very happy as well.
Deb will stay until she sees Diane settled in her room.
What a generous and support friend she is!
We are all very grateful that things are going well!


Diane Up & About

Written August 2, 2013 2:39pm by Laura Pizzo

Just a quick note to let you all know that Diane is doing well today. Her PT is going well and she spent most of today in a recliner in her room. She hasn't talked to her doctor yet today, but when she does she is hoping he will say she can go home tomorrow!

I spoke to her while she was waiting for her lunch to be delivered. She was going to visit on the phone with her dad while she has lunch and then get back to her online course. Don't be surprised if she posts to this site later today. Just can't keep that girl down!

Love to all of you for your kind thoughts and well wishes.
Laura


Home Again, home again Jiggity-Jig

Written August 3, 2013 8:43pm by Laura Pizzo

Yes, Diane is home resting. There were a few little bumps on the beginning road to recovery, but all in all a very good result.

Deb brought her home and surprised her with walker carrier. A beautiful hand made rigging with many pockets to fill. A fancy hands free device. Superwoman, super wonderful!

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Journal by Diane (Fontana) Boreland

I'm baaaaaaaaaack

Written August 6, 2013 7:00pm by Diane Boreland

Hi everyone,

I tried to type a journal entry three different times while I was in the hospital. Each time I got further along, but somehow lost the entire entry. So I thought it best to wait until I was home and things were somewhat back to normal. I'm home and recovery is the new normal.

Just to put things in perspective ... when I was last writing journal entries after my first hip surgery, my friends and family back east were going through the worst storm we'd seen in our lifetime, Sandy. I made an excellent and total recovery from my total hip replacement and am now focusing on recovery number two. Some of my family and friends back east are still trying to recover from Sandy.

So the mantra is RECOVERY. My current focus is health and recovery from hip surgery. I have another week until my follow up appointment with surgeon. Then three days after that I have follow up with pre-op doctor. Then three days after that I have my evaluation appointment with physical therapy. So I have two weeks before outpatient PT begins and will continue with at home exercises and walking until then.

Today is the first day I've spent totally alone. Finally getting back on the computer and checking email, Facebook, Caring Bridge and reconnecting with the world. Hello world!

Will be checking in just to let you know I'm still here, but doubt I'll have much exciting news to report for the next week. Hopefully just that pain is less and strength is more.

Thank you all for your healing thoughts and kind words, and I'll be looking forward to my next dish of ravioli!

Love to all,
Diane


Freebird

Written August 13, 2013 10:00pm by Diane Boreland

Hello all,

I've been off the pain meds since Sunday and hit the open road today for my follow up appointment with surgeon. It was so great to be out of the house and off my block ... on the freeway you forget your "handicapped" status. Although I just received my new Handicapped Placard after renewing and I will still be saddled with it for life, today I felt like I could fly just like a free bird.

So bandages came off. Everything looks good according to two nurses and one surgeon. That puts all my worrying to an end. Have to go back in five weeks for another round of x-rays and consult.

Have a busy week all week. Have to go out every day, and still manage to take the online course I enrolled in Wed-Fri. Will have to juggle nighttime rebroadcasts with live daily feed to complete. Next week starts outpatient Physical Therapy and I enrolled in a five-day class all of next week.

I guess I will have to check in on the weekends ... yes, I still have them. ;-D

Love to all,
Diane


One Week, Three Doctors

Written August 19, 2013 6:13pm by Diane Boreland

Hi Everyone,

Well my plan to go out everyday last week and get a class in backfired. I tried to catch up on class but was too tired to concentrate.

At my appointment with surgeon on Tuesday, I had to get a waiver to see my dentist. (I left out the part that two days after I got home from the hospital, I broke off a crown right next to my front tooth. Bit down on a bone and it cracked at the gum line. I panicked because I knew that after hip surgery they don't want you to visit dentist for 6-8 weeks.) I got the okay to go and spent three hours in the dentist chair on Wednesday morning. Heavy doses of novocaine and a root extraction. Now I'm on antibiotics for five days. Next appointment in 7 weeks for fitting for final bridge. New bridge two weeks later.

Friday I went to pre-op doctor follow up appointment. Incision fine. Still walking with walker. Doing great for two weeks since surgery, healing on schedule. After that appointment I went for an eye exam. I was supposed to go in December and put it off until I noticed things getting a little fuzzy. New lenses should be ready in a week.

I filled out my paperwork for therapy on Sunday and was ready for my evaluation this morning. We scheduled two sessions a week for five weeks and then we do a re-evaluation. So on Thursday and Friday this week I will have my first Physical Therapy with therapists at the rehabilitation facility. For now, they just gave me two standing exercises to add into what my doctor already has me doing at home ... and the fun begins! I started transitioning from walker to cane today. Went food shopping on the way home (running out of necessities) and the hardest part was getting everything in the house.

So, I've completed the medical trifecta week, three ailments taken care of (eyes, teeth and hip) ... and it only took four doctors and couple of nurses. What a week ... and in 108 degree weather. No wonder I'm back on the Tylenol.

Until next time... stay tuned for Physical Therapy report ... week one of six part series.

Love to all,

Diane


Keep on Truckin

Written August 23, 2013 6:42pm by Diane Boreland

Well I made it through my first week of PT. I had back-to-back sessions yesterday and today. For the next four weeks they will be spaced further apart.

I will be alternating between two different therapists each week. So it's funny to see how they do things a little differently. I spent 30 minutes on the Alter G Anti Gravity Treadmill yesterday and just 20 minutes today. That was my choice. I was brave yesterday and after 20 minutes said I could go for the full half hour and hit the 1 mile mark. Check out their website to see it in action: http://www.alterg.com/

Well, Tylenol was necessary last night and this morning. The good news is that I already find there are moments I can go a short distance without even the cane. Of course, by the end of the day, I'm back leaning on the walker again; but therapist says it's okay to rely on what you need at the time.

So each session is two hours. They have me work on specific exercises for the first 1-1/2 hrs. and then they work on me for a half hour: stretching and twisting my leg, doing ASTYM treatments (stimulating healing in scar tissue area), then ending with 10 minutes of ice. The sweet ending.

One week down (two day crash course) ... looking forward to resting for two days before next session on Monday.

Love to all,
Diane


Hands Free!

Written August 27, 2013 2:27pm by Diane Boreland

Therapy week two, part one update ... that two-day crash course paid off big time. After PT last week on Thursday and Friday, I found myself on Sunday leaving the cane behind. I was still using it to get from room to room, but found that I could move inside each room without having to rely on it. Look Ma, no hands!

Now, at yesterday's PT session I left the cane in the car. Let's just say it was like doing a trapeze act without a net. The therapist noticed right away that I was limping, and I told her that it was because I just gave up the cane. After the session was over and I had to get up off the table, that's when I was thinking that I was a little too sure of myself ... the first few steps were shaky and I would have used the cane if I had brought it in. Never fear, I just took it slow and when I got to the car I was glad I had a bottle of water and an emergency Tylenol in my wallet. More valuable than money at that moment! Especially since vino over Tylenol was not an option since I was behind the wheel (running joke between David and I if you've been following journal and guestbook posts).

Next PT Friday am ... this will be a long span between, but I do my own PT at home faithfully on days when I don't have rehab scheduled. So I'm using the cane mostly to get up to a standing position and maybe the first few steps and then I carry it once I get a pace going without a limp. That's my main concern, the return of the limp ... I don't want to wind up like Lew Ayres in "Donovan's Brain." (That's a really old reference, but I know Paula gets that one!)

Taking a two-day course online Wednesday and Thursday with Photoshop Guru Ben Willmore and have my Adobe InDesign User Group meeting on Thursday night. So, today is my day to catch up on paperwork, email and snail mail (translation: bills) ... medical mail has been steadily rolling in ... Pay This Portion. Best money I ever spent!

Love to all,
Diane


Switching it up ...

Written September 3, 2013 5:22pm by Diane Boreland

A new week and many new exercises introduced today ... think it was six. Balance great ... graduated to doing my one legged flamingo impression on foam cushion instead of hard floor. Hamstrings reactivated after being dormant for a long time. Oh yeah, feeling the burn ... told the therapist my legs were on fire!


It must be fall ...

Written September 4, 2013 7:29pm by Diane Boreland

My steri-strips have been falling like leaves during the past week. Half of them are gone and half of those stubborn hangers on just won't budge. There is even one that isn't stuck to me, but is stuck to its neighbor. I predict they'll be gone by the end of the week.


Back to Basics

Written September 7, 2013 1:06am by Diane Boreland

Started therapy today with the "regular" treadmill for cardio. Ten minutes on the real thing got my heart pumping and set the tone for the whole session. When I had to do some exercises where I lie down on my back, my glasses steamed up.

Added one new move today, a new balance exercise that I had to actually stop and think about before I could do it ... it was like a delayed reaction between thinking about the position and my body actually moving. The first time they introduce a new one, your body has to learn it.

I have two more weeks scheduled and was told to schedule two weeks after that when I come in next time.

Have a great weekend everybody!


I Can't

Written September 10, 2013 2:05pm by Diane Boreland

Well they finally stumped me today. Every session introduces new exercises. My therapist explained one of the new ones and she had me lift the "good" leg to correct height and said do ten each side, three sets and walked off. I did the first ten, hurting a little toward the end. I switched to the other side. No go. I tried again. My mind is telling my leg what to do, but no action. I called over to my therapist, "I can't do it." Man, those are hard words to say. She saw the serious look on my face and said, "I stumped you." She came up with an easier alternative movement for the left side and had me continue. She was pushing me. We talked when I first arrived about how I was doing. I told both of my therapists that I was still having issues lifting the left leg. Each session when I have to do stretches, I'm still lifting my left leg up with my hand to get it in place. I told them that over the weekend I tried getting in and out of the passenger side of a car and found it to be much more difficult and painful than getting in on the driver's side. So she kept introducing new exercises to work on strengthening.

She told me to ice tonight and again tomorrow to help muscle recovery, and to massage bottom of incision where scar tissue is the worst.

I went on the regular treadmill again, but for only .25 mile. But on my way out when I had to schedule more appointments through the first week in October, I saw that Spooner Physical Therapy is participating in five walks ... WALK TO CREATE A WORLD FREE OF MS. The card shows two near me. West Valley Saturday 10.12.13 and Phoenix Saturday 11.02.13 ... I asked the girl scheduling my appointments how long the walk is and she thinks it's a mile. By then I should be doing a mile easy. I'm going to check out the website now: www.walkmsarizona.org and then I'll ask my therapists if they think I can.




Looking to replace "I Can't" with "I Can". Can I?